Blood Ties Book One

The Turning

By: Jennifer Armintrout

Narrated by: Elenna Stauffer

Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

I'm no coward. I want to make that perfectly clear. But after my life turned into a horror movie, I take fear a lot more seriously now. I finally became Dr. Carrie Ames just eight months ago. Then I was attacked in the hospital morgue by a vampire. Just my luck.

So now I'm a vampire, and it turns out I have a blood tie to the monster who sired me. The tie works like an invisible leash, and I'm bound to him no matter what I do. And of course he's one of the most evil vampires on earth. With my sire hell-bent on turning me into a soulless killer and his sworn enemy set to exterminate me, things couldn't get much worse...except I'm attracted to them both.

Drinking blood, living as an immortal demon, and being a pawn between two warring vampire factions isn't exactly how I'd imagined my future. But as my father used to say, the only way to conquer fear is to face it. So that's what I'll do. Fangs bared.

Don't miss the rest of the Blood Ties series, including Book Two, The Possession and Book Three, Ashes to Ashes, and Book Four, All Souls' Night.

©2006 Jennifer Armintrout (P)2006 Audible, Inc.
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A. All characters in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Critic reviews

"This fast, furious novel is a squirm-inducing treat." (Publishers Weekly)

average at best

I am a huge fan of vampier genre. This is not the best, but fairly entertaining. The narrator was great in the main character. However, the supporting characters were ear piercing. I felt parts were a little drawn out. I am not even sure if I would listen to the sequal.

Vampire Love, Yeah!

Would you listen to Blood Ties Book One again? Why?

I would love to listen to this again and I probably will later. I really like the whole story.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Blood Ties Book One?

Carrie and how she handles or not handles her sudden entry into vampirism.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

If I had time I would listen to the whole series.

Story had potential, but...

Character development for the doctor turned vampire was nonexistent. She was too accepting of her circumstances and the gore.
Narration was ok except that all the evil vampires sounded like Gollum. And some of the serious conversations sounded too upbeat.
Overall Ok, but glad it was a free listen. I would not have been happy had I paid for it.

I loved it

This is definitely a book I wasn’t expecting from Harlequin. It doesn’t have the normal happily ever after story line. Also there are graphic accounts of injury and torture by the vampires. But, that being said this was a fantastic debut novel by Armintrout. If the series keeps up she will be held in the same company as Charlene Harris, Laurel Hamilton and Sherrilyn Kenyon. He characters are well thought out and she took the time to work through how people go about not aging and having dead people disappear and not be suspected.

Interesting listen

I gave this book a try during one of the sales that are offered. I finally got around to listening and while I do plan on listening to the other titles in this series I did find this book a bit long in the tooth (pardon the pun) at times. The book seems to be more at home in the romance section. I was not expecting so many references to 'love making'. All in all an interesting story which has drawn me in to try the next book in the series. I do hope there is a bit less sex in the next saga.

Good Book, Lousy Narration

The narrator has a nice voice that would be better used in non-fiction readings. She does not do dialogue well. Her characters come out sounding like cartoons with sore throats. She also needs to slow down. She reads like she is in a drag race.

Other than that this is a good book. Plot, characters and scenes are well done. You can get into the book enough to cheer the good guys and hiss at the bad guys.

I will go on to read book two despite the narrator being the same one. Sometimes you just have to overlook the reader in order to enjoy a good book.

Unpredictable

Really good and unpredictable. As reviewed by my teenage daughter.

Horror & romance

A romance for horror fans. Gets very violent and gory at times. Don't compare to other vampire romances because this one is nothing like the others. If you don't like violent bloody horror stay away from this one. If you enjoy those with some drama and romance mixed in then give this story a go. I enjoyed this story but it was a bit umm macob. Parts of this series may make people a bit uncomfortable at least it did me. That being said I enjoyed and finished all 4 books in the series.

Meh

The story seems disjointed and leaps are made in the story that could have been developed more. The narrators normal voice is fine. The voices of the soul eater and the teenager boy where painful to listen to. She would do will with documentaries or self help. Just not the voices of male characters. Hopefully, subsequent books will be better

Great Vampire novel

Being a vampire fan, I enjoyed the story, and am on the the sequels!